The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has decided not to schedule a budget hearing after-hours so people who work during the day can testify about how county funding should be spent.

Community groups complain that the county policy is shutting out working people from the budget process.

Supervisor Greg Cox tried to amend the 2018 process to add a night meeting but received no support from his board colleagues.

County supervisors have a history of scheduling budget hearings at night so people who work during the day have a chance to weigh in on how billions of tax dollars should be spent.

But this year, with most members of the Board of Supervisors no longer facing re-election due to term limits, support for after-hours meetings has evaporated.

“If you’re a concerned citizen … you could make the time to come down here to testify,” Supervisor Bill Horn said at a recent board meeting. “I’m willing to sit here for two days. … I don’t want to sit here at night.”

The comments from Horn came in response to a suggestion from Supervisor Greg Cox, who asked his colleagues to amend the yearly meeting calendar to add a night-time budget hearing for people who want to testify about how the county will spend billions of public dollars.

“I don’t want to close the door to the public,” Cox said. “I realize it’s a burden, but we ought to have at least one opportunity for the public to come down during non-normal working hours.”

The discussion came up as the board approved changes allowing grant applicants and others to submit testimony online rather than travel to downtown San Diego to testify in person. Cox’s motion died when no other supervisor agreed to the idea.

Community advocates are now planning to petition the supervisors to rethink their position and add a night meeting to the schedule of budget hearings this spring.

“For the past two years the Board of Supervisors has honored the community’s desire for an evening budget hearing,” said Kyra Greene, executive director of the Center on Policy Initiatives, a San Diego think tank with ties to local labor unions.

“Public participation has been growing, with more than 1,000 people attending last year,” she said. “In light of that turnout, the board’s decision not to hold an evening budget hearing is a horrible blow to transparency and a terrible beginning to Kristin Gaspar’s leadership on the board.”

Gaspar, who chairs the board, just announced she was running for Congress. She issued a statement criticizing the Service Employees International Union, which represents county employees, for advocating for a night meeting.

“It’s unfortunate that the leadership of SEIU is spinning this in a negative way when the reality is our board has taken an innovative step to expand and enhance the way we receive testimony on the budget using the convenience of technology,” the statement said. “Additionally, the budget portal and the 2018 board meeting calendar were both heard and voted on in public meetings.”

Others say elected officials should do more to accommodate their constituents’ needs.

“Public hearings are often seen by elected officials as a box you have to check off,” said Mesa College political science professor Carl Luna. “It is something of a statement of priorities when you decide to limit the number of opportunities the public has to weigh in on any important issue — and there is no more important an issue than the budget.”

Luna said personal convenience should not affect a decision to hold meetings after hours.

“You have an obligation to try and meet your constituents halfway,” he said. “And one or two night meetings a year doesn’t seem like an undue burden. It sends a bad message to the public.”

The board, which voted in December to approve its annual calendar, controls about $5.7 billion in tax revenue. The money pays for everything from the Sheriff’s Department and health services to parks and prosecutors.

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